Friday, 12 July 2013

On Saturday The Telegraph and leading publisher Harvill Secker are joining forces to officially launch
the most exciting new competition in crime fiction. The prize is a £5,000 book
deal and, to help you win it, top authors such as Jo Nesbo and Henning Mankell
will be offering tips and advice in a series of exclusive online masterclasses according to Jake Kerridge.

In his article in The telegraph on the competition he states "

Crime fiction is rather like cricket: the British like to think that they
invented it and they certainly codified the rules. But other nations have
embraced it and become equally adept – if not more so. The British currently
have a world-class side, thanks in part – and here we leave the cricket
comparison behind – to an indispensable contribution from the Scots. But
brilliant teams are being fielded the world over.

He goes on to state-

"We cannot be sure why crime fiction exerts the grip it does – perhaps because,
as Dorothy L Sayers suggested, the form boasts an “Aristotelian perfection of
beginning, middle and end” that comes less easily to other fiction – but there
is no question that there are millions of readers who can’t escape from it, and
don’t want to. As PG Wodehouse once said: “The most poignant bereavement of all
[is] that of a man halfway through a detective story who finds himself at
bedtime without the book.” If you think you have the kind of devious mind that
could wield that sort of power over a reader, now’s your chance to prove it."